A new study has found a link between a thaw in Arctic ice and snow and extreme summer weather events thousands of miles away in southern Europe, the US and other regions. The report highlights the scale of the threat posed by climate change, showing how rapid Arctic warming could be causing more summer downpours and heat waves, including recent spate of exceptional extreme heat events in North America, Europe, and Asia It is not the first study to link Arctic warming with weather patterns in other regions, but is the first to find such correlations between Arctic ice melt and summer weather events. Previous studies have focused on the links with fall and winter weather patterns. Since the 1980s, Arctic summer sea ice extent has dropped at a rate of 8% per decade. In September 2012 – the month the sea ice cover reaches its annual minimum – sea ice reached record low levels. Writing in the journal nature Climate Change, experts in China and the United States said they could not conclusively say the Arctic thaw caused more extreme weather, or vice versa. But they said they had found evidence of a relationship between the two. Rising temperatures over thawing snow on land and sea ice in the Arctic were changing atmospheric pressure and winds, the report said. The changes slowed the eastward movement of vast meandering weather systems and meant more time for extreme weather to develop – such as a heat wave in Russia in 2010, droughts in the United States and China in 2011 and 2012, or heavy summer rains that caused floods in Britain in 2012, the paper added. “The study contributes to a growing body of evidence that … the melting Arctic has wide-ranging implications for people living in the middle latitudes,” lead author Qiuhong Tang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences told Reuters.

Earlier today President Barrack Obama released a memorandum ordering federal agencies to increase their usage of renewable energy. The announcement declared that all federal agencies should receive 20% of their power from renewable sources by the year 2020. The memo also listed milestones towards that eventual goal, such as at least 10% of energy from renewable sources by the year 2015. As it currently stands, federal agencies use less than 10% of their energy from renewable sources, so this effort requires a doubling in the next seven years. Further items of note in the memo include a push to increase energy efficiency in federal buildings and power management systems. The executive order applies to both civilian and military agencies. Exemptions from this mandate were included to protect national intelligence and classified information. This is part of a wider effort on Obama’s part to push energy independence and reduce greenhouse gases. This memo will put the federal government in line with many states that have already set a 20% renewable energy goal, as well as the Department of Defense which earlier this year set a goal of 25% renewable energy usage by the year 2025. According to the memorandum, similar past efforts by the administration have already born fruit. The administration claims to have “reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than 15 percent from FY 2008 levels – the equivalent of permanently taking 1.5 million cars off the road,” as well as “reduced energy use per square foot in Federal buildings by more than 9 percent since FY 2008, curbing pollution and reducing utility bills.”

The Climate Investment Fund and the African Development Bank recently ran a joint competition to promote private investment in renewable energy in African markets. Countries put forth their proposals for public-private partnerships, and 15 were selected by the Climate Investment fund to receive part of the $330 million in awards for the competition. Due to steep barriers against private investment, many African renewable energy markets are severely underdeveloped. This competition is part of a campaign on behalf of the Climate Investment Fund to defray risks associated and encourage private investment. It matches with similar efforts on the part of the African Development Bank, which has been recently ramping up its investment on renewable energy projects as part of an attempt to mitigate the dangers of severe climate change. The 15 projects selected were spread across 6 countries, including Mali, Ghana, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, and Mozambique. Many of these countries have serious issues with instability, resulting in the aforementioned lack of private investment. It is for this exact reason, however, that the projects are the most needed. For example, Mali currently imports all of its fossil fuels. With the $40 million Mali received, it hopes to develop a solar photovoltaic grid system, subsidize investment in solar photovoltaic and biofuels, and encourage the development of micro-hydropower plants.